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This section needs expansion with: further detail on the history of KTNV-TV, including prior ownership and notable local programming. You can help by adding to it.(May 2010)

The station, originally owned by the TV Company of America, Inc., signed on the air for the first time on May 4, 1956 as KSHO-TV. Before then, ABC had been relegated to off-hours clearances on NBC affiliate KLRJ/KORK-TV (channel 3, now KSNV-DT) and CBS affiliate KLAS-TV (channel 8).

In 1979, KSHO was purchased by WTMJ, Inc., the broadcasting division of The Journal Company; the acquisition made it Journal's second television station property (and its first television station acquisition outside of the company's headquarters of Milwaukee). The station changed its callsign to KTNV-TV on March 2, 1980 (the -TV suffix was removed from 1988 to 2009).[1]

KTNV originally transmitted its signal from a tower located right outside the station at the intersection of Desert Inn Road and Valley View Boulevard, on the quadruple border of city of Las Vegas, Spring Valley, Paradise and Winchester. The tower is a unique and visible landmark throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

On July 30, 2014, it was announced that the E. W. Scripps Company would buy Journal Communications in an all-stock transaction. Scripps will retain the two companies' broadcast properties, including KTNV, and spin off its print properties as part of Journal Media Group.[2] The FCC approved the deal on December 12, 2014. It was approved by shareholders on March 11, 2015. The merger was completed on April 1, 2015.[3][4] With new sister station KNXV-TV in Phoenix, along with existing Tucson sister KGUN-TV, this effectively gives E.W. Scripps a monopoly for ABC network programming across the wide geographical area of Southern Nevada and most of the state of Arizona.

KTNV-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition VHF channel 12 to channel 13 for post-transition operations.[6] As with all of Journal Communications' television stations, the station also added the "-TV" suffix to its callsign following the transition to become KTNV-TV.

Over the past several years, KTNV has been phasing out syndicated programming and replacing it with either news, or more recently, self-produced lifestyle programming. Most notably in 2004, KTNV lost Oprah to rival CBS affiliate KLAS-TV, replacing it with a half-hour 4 p.m. newscast and syndicated programming; and in 2009, KTNV declined to renew the local rights to the syndicated morning talk show Live with Regis and Kelly (replacing it with the Morning Blend). On March 5, 2012, the 4 p.m. newscast was moved back to 3:30, in order to make room for Judge Judy (which it acquired from KSNV-DT) in the newscast's former timeslot.[citation needed]

Following the lead of many Journal stations, KTNV launched a lifestyle-oriented program called The Morning Blend on July 6, 2010. The program, which airs at 9 a.m. on weekdays and is hosted by Dao Vu and Shawn Tempesta, is modeled after the format of Milwaukee sister station (and Journal Broadcast Group flagship) WTMJ-TV's morning program of the same name, and features a mix of paid and unpaid segments. All segments that promote a certain product or company are clearly disclaimed on air. The show is produced through KTNV's sales and advertising departments, with no connection at all to the station's news department. As such, The Morning Blend's hosts do not report any news stories, ceding any breaking events to the KTNV news staff, and the show is preempted in occasional cases where breaking news coverage takes up the entire hour.[citation needed]

This section needs expansion with: additional information on the history of KTNV-TV's news department. You can help by adding to it.(June 2010)

KTNV-TV presently broadcasts a total of 43 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 6½ hours each weekday, five hours on Saturdays and 5½ hours on Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the second-largest local newscast output among Las Vegas' broadcast television stations, behind Fox affiliate KVVU-TV (channel 5)'s 53 hours of newscasts each week. In years past, the station's newscasts have been called News 13, Channel 13 News, News 13 Inside Las Vegas and 13 Inside Las Vegas; the station switched to the current Action News branding for its newscasts in 2003.

On December 15, 2007, KTNV became the third television station in Las Vegas (behind KVBC, channel 3 and KLAS-TV, channel 8) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. The station also unveiled its new digital production facilities and news set on the same day.

On July 20, 2016, KTNV switched to the current Scripps graphics and news theme "Inergy."